Archontici

Archontici a sect of the second century who rejected baptism, and held that the world was not created by the Almighty God, but by certain powers, seven or eight in number, whom they called Archontes (ἄρχοντες, rulers), to the chief of whom they gave the name of Sabaoth, the god of the Jews and the giver of the law, whom they blasphemously distinguished from the true God. Now, as they pretended that baptism was administered in the name of Sabaoth, and not in that of the supreme God, they rejected it, and the holy Eucharist. They held that woman was a creation of the devil. They were a branch of the Valentinians. Bingham, Orig. Eccles. bk. 11, ch. 10, cap. 2; Tillemont, 2:295; Landon, Eccl. Dict. 1:493.